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Jan 17, 2006, 11:43 PM CST

CORPUS CHRISTI - Ray senior Jackie Stiles has shattered the sex barrier in wrestling. The days of her being the token female on the Texans team are long gone. Jackie has become a giant in the sport, and she's taking dead aim on state.

Jackie Stiles weighs 128 pounds, she's soft spoken, unassuming, but a terror on the mat. She's 19-2 this season, she was 32-3 last season. For her, this sport relieves stress, it let's her take out her anger without getting in trouble.

"Sometimes people say when things happen in your life you take it out on bad stuff, but I guess down here there's not anything you can do but get in trouble, but being in this sport helps out a lot," Stiles said.

Now, in two years Stiles went from being simply a female wrestler to a contender, a state contender. She has a legitimate shot at medaling at state.

"It feels good, because I know I've worked hard for everything that I'm doing. I come to practice every day. It takes a lot to come out here and do what anybody else would want to do." Jackie's earned her success. She has a strong work ethic, she hits the weights, she runs, she does everything her coached has asked, and then some.

Amazingly, Jackie's penned eighteen of her 21 opponents.

"Because she's tenacious. She gets after them, pursuing, she attacks and attacks and attacks and tries to score, score, score. That's what we try to get the kids to do," said Ray coach Ed Arvin.

Jackie was among the top female wrestlers who competed in a recent Amarillo tourney. She reached the finals where she lost to a Socorro girl, the same girl she lost to at state last year. She's working for another shot at her. Can she bring home a medal.

"Yes sire, I think I can. I know I can."

Online Reporter: Art Mack

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Thread on Alyssa Lampe being ranked #2 in state of Wisconsin:

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Two girls take to the mats Young women earn their place on Knox Middle wrestling team

By Katie Scarvey 1/17/06

Salisbury Post

Knox Middle wrestlers Kaitlyn Leonard and Krystol Thomas. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Satisfaction! Knox Middle School's Kaitlyn Leonard celebrates after taking the win over China Grove Middle's Anson Phillips in the 112-pound division. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Her pin, Her win: Kaitlyn Leonard faces Anson Phillips at the start of her match, soon pins him on his back and lets the referee confirm her victory in the second match of the wrestling meet between Knox and China Grove middle schools. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

They're ready: Knox Middle's Krystol Thomas helps Kaitlyn Leonard stretch before a match with China Grove Middle. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Pin him: Knox Middle School's Krystol Thomas cheers on her teammates in a match with China Grove . Krystol wrestles in the 189-pound weight class, and teammate Kaitlyn Leonard wrestles in the 112-pound weight division. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

As girls in what is generally considered a male sport, Kaitlyn Leonard and Krystol Thomas, both members of the Knox Middle School wrestling squad, get a kick out of changing people?s notions about how strong girls are and whether or not they can compete against boys in a physical sport like wrestling.

But the two eighth-graders didn?t join the team to prove a point about what girls can do.

They just like to wrestle, and they?re good at it.

***

Last Tuesday, Knox Middle School wrestled China Grove Middle School at home.

Competing in the 112-pound division against Anson Phillips, Kaitlyn came away with a pin 51 seconds into the second period.

After the match, she was pumped.

?I was ready for it,? she says. ?I got a lot of encouragement from my teammates.?

?He had respect for me,? Krystol said. ?After the match, he was smiling and said ?Good job; you did it again.? ?

Winning the bout put Krystol?s conference record at 4-3.

Kaitlyn?s win boosted her record to 2-1. Although she wrestled last year for Knox, she started out the 2005-2006 school year in Denton, returning to Knox in November. She was required to complete nine practices before being eligible to participate in matches.

***

Kaitlyn began wrestling when she was 6. After winning her first match, she was hooked.

?I thought it was awesome,? she said. ?It?s very fun.?

Kaitlyn?s tee ball coach thought she might make a good wrestler.

She got involved in AAU wrestling and was soon traveling all over the state to compete, mostly against boys. In 2001, she won a bronze medal in the 50-pound division of a national AAU La Femme tournament for female wrestlers held in Kingsport, Tenn.

Now at 13 years old, Kaitlyn still enjoys the sport.

?Kaitlyn brings a lot to our team,? Knox coach Leon Gaither says, including enthusiasm and sportsmanship. ?The guys really cheer her on.?

In a recent match against North Rowan Middle School, Knox won the match by a single point ? and would have lost if Kaitlyn had allowed herself to be pinned. Even though she lost that match, Kaitlyn is proud she contributed to the team?s win.

She doesn?t think it?s any big deal that she?s a girl who wrestles.

?It?s just cool that you can do something that other girls wouldn?t really do,? she says.

She has no problem handling what her opponents dish out, and she doesn?t want any special treatment.

?I?ll take anything,? she says.

Because she and Krystol have long hair, they are required to wear a special hair covering. And since wrestling singlets are not designed with the female body in mind, they wear T-shirts underneath their uniforms.

Kaitlyn admits to getting some pleasure looking at the faces of her opponents as they walk off the mat, especially if she?s performed well against them.

Kaitlyn?s mom, Misty McDaniel, is proud of her daughter, who at 5 feet 7 inches and 107 pounds is ?nothing but muscle,? she says.

?She?s spunky, very athletic and not afraid to take a risk,? McDaniel says.

?Kaitlyn?s an awesome wrestler, very talented and technically sound,? says Kareem Puranda, the school?s resource officer and an assistant coach for the squad. ?She handles herself very well.

?She should be wrestling in the 103-4 pound class, but she?s wrestling at 112,? he says, which means that most of her opponents outweigh her, putting her at a slight disadvantage.

?She?s a trooper,? Puranda says. ?I don?t think there?s anybody in her real weight class to match her.?

The boys on the team respect Kaitlyn and are somewhat intimidated, he says.

?They don?t want to wrestle her. She can kick some of those boys? butts.?

Kaitlyn is also a high jumper on the track team, and she?s trying out for the basketball team. She?s not sure how far she?ll take the wrestling or whether she?ll wrestle in high school next year, but for now, she?s having fun with it.

Kaitlyn was flattered when she found out Krystol saw her as a role model.

?It feels good when you get other people to come out and do something because you did it,? Kaitlyn says.

Krystol is fairly new to the sport of wrestling, but she?s off to a great start, Puranda says.

?In practice, she?s proved her abilities on the mat. She?s got some basic techniques down.

?She?s put up a good fight in each of her bouts,? he adds.

She?s not the first wrestler in her family. Her older brother, Robert, was a champion wrestler when he was in school in Pittsburgh, where her family used to live.

The sport helps her cope, she says.

?Wrestling helps me relieve all my stress and stuff. When I?m in a bad mood, I just lay it all down.?

She enjoys surprising her opponents. ?They always underestimate me,? she says.

?Her opponents will often say, ?I didn?t expect that much strength,? ? Puranda says.

Krystol says her friends at school love that she and Kaitlyn are on the wrestling team. ?They just like it when we pin a boy,? she says.

Krystol also plays basketball and softball at Knox, where last year she won the All Coaches Award for her athletic achievements. She plans to continue wrestling at Salisbury High.

Krystol?s mother, Darlene Williams, is proud of her daughter?s achievements.

In the beginning, Williams said, she questioned how a female could safely wrestle a male, but now she doesn?t worry so much.

Despite her ferocity on the mat, Krystol likes to go to dances and ?pretties up? well, her mom says. ?When she wants to look like a lady, she can.?

On the mat, however, ?ladylike? is the last thing that Krystol and Kaitlyn want to be.

***

Knox Middle School, which has a 5-4 record this year, will compete in the last match of the season Thursday against Lexington at home. They will be competing in the conference tournament Jan. 28, a Saturday, at Erwin Middle School.

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Proving herself on the mat

Chuck Slater 1/12/06
Special to The Journal News
The Journal News

It is a first for Dennis DiSanto, the knowledgeable, well-respected
coach at Somers High School. In his 21st season, with more than 200 varsity
victories under his belt, he has a girl wrestler on his squad.

"We've wrestled against girls quite a few times," DiSanto said, "but
not one had ever been on my team."

Meghan Raniolo has changed that. The junior competes regularly on the
Tuskers' junior varsity, wrestling at either 130 or 135 pounds. Shortly
before the holiday break, she registered her first victory on the mat,
beating a male opponent.

"A couple of guys on the squad said she'd spoken to them about trying
out," DiSanto said of his first inkling that things were going to be a little
different this year. "Then there she was."

Raniolo is 5-foot-5, brown-haired and athletic looking but far richer
in determination than experience.

"She had never really wrestled before," DiSanto said. "She said she had
done it in junior high school and liked it."

Junior high school and junior year in high school are countless hours
of training removed from each other. So why now?

"It was a fun idea," said Raniolo, an A-minus student taking advanced
placement courses. "I thought I'd go for it. I really like it."

Said DiSanto: "The first few days were awkward. But after she toughed
out the first week and was still there, the guys started helping her. Now,
really, it's not like having a girl on the team. She just fits in.

"She's got a good work ethic, and if anyone comes into the room willing
to work, I'll coach them."

Awkward is also a good word for Raniolo's revelation of the new sport
she had chosen to her parents.

"I said `You must be kidding,'" her mother, Debbie, said. "I asked if
she was serious. When she said `yes,' well, I trust her judgment. We
supported her."

"We" includes her husband, Robert, a surgeon at Phelps Memorial
Hospital who also serves as a team doctor for Sleepy Hollow High School.

"I wasn't an athlete, that comes from her mother," he said. "I was a
grease monkey, into hot rods. I asked Meghan why she wanted to wrestle. Did
she feel she had something to prove? Was there some ulterior motive? She
said, `Dad, why would you question me? Just because I'm a girl?'

"So we said OK. And there's no question wrestling has been good for
her."

Said Meghan: "I have lost a few pounds. I was 138 when I went out for
the team. But more than losing weight, I've gained muscle."

"She's trying real hard to get better," said Anthony Mancini, a
119-pound freshman who is Raniolo's practice partner. "In workouts, she'll run
faster than anyone else. She's strong-willed; she'll do anything that's fair
to win."

Mancini volunteered to work out with the girl on the team.

"I didn't feel that uncomfortable," he said. "I think we've learned
from each other."

Raniolo, who was a captain of the JV softball team last spring, is a
big fan of the Philadelphia Eagles and Ashley Simpson. But she is so into
wrestling that she hopes to compete again in her senior year.

On the varsity?

"That would really be a challenge," she said. "But I'd love to if I'm
good enough."